file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1991: pln-0107.txt
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Life Communications - Volume 1, No. 7 July, 1991
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(1)
Some Background on Planned Parenthood...
``The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a
religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to
exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can
staighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more
rebellious members.''
Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood.
During the 1980s Planned Parenthood shifted its focus from
community-based clinics to school-based clinics. Of the over one
hundred school-based clinics that have opened nationwide in the last
decade, NONE have been at substantially all-white schools. NONE have
been at suburban middle-class schools. Virtually ALL have been at
Black, minority, or ethnic schools [1]
In most black communities today abortions outstrip births by as much
as three-to-one.[2]
Thirty-two percent of all abortions are performed on minority
mothers[3]. The sterilization rate among blacks is 45% higher than
among Whites[4]. Among Hispanics the rate is 30% higher[5].
As many as 42% of all American Indian women and 35% of Puerto-Rican
women have been sterilized[6].
In Houston, Texas and Ft. Wayne, Indiana discount coupons, pop records
and sponsored dances have been used by Planned Parenthood to lure
minority women into their clinics[7]. In other cities clients are
bribed with cash or prizes[8].
Black Financial Analyst William L. Davis argues,
"There is no way to escape the implication. When an organization has
a history of racism, when its literature is openly racist, when its
goals are self-consciously racial, and when programs invariably
revolve around race, it doesn't take an expert to realize that the
organization is indeed racist. Really now, how can anyone believe
anything about Planned Parenthood except that it is a hive of elitist
bigotry, predjudice, and bias? Just because the organization has a
smattering of minority staffers in key positions does nothing to
dispel the plain facts."[9]
[1]Carla deVries, Benjaimin Goldstein, and Linda Evankirov,``Tenn
Pregnancy: Crisis Solution, and Opposition'' (Boston: Educational
Software Information Group, 1987), p. 14; and Roberta Weiner, ``Teen
Pregnacy: Impact on the Schools'' (Alexandria, VA: Capitol
Publications, 1987).
[2]U.S. Health and Human Services figures, developed by R.G. Calhoun,
Univ. of Houston, 1986.
[3]Allan Chase, ``The Legacy of Malthus: The Costs of the New
Scientific Racism'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977), p. 411.
[4]A.L.Thornton, ``U.S. Statistical Survey: A Reanalysis of the 1980
Census Figures for Population Distribution and Composition,'' from
_Demographics Today_, March, 1983, p.62.
[5]``Family Planning Perspectives,'' 7:3 (May-June 1975); and Elasah
Drogin, "Margaret Sanger: Father of Modern Society"(New Hope, KY, CUL
Publications), 1979, p.68
[6]Ibid.
[7]``No Se Arriesguen: Visiten Planned Parenthood para el Control de
la Natalidad," brochure coupon from Planned Parenthood of Houston and
Southeast Texas, distributed 1986-1987; and ``Fort Wayne Journal
Gazette,'' November 5, 1987.
[8]Linda Gordon, ``Woman's Body, Woman's Right: A Social History of
Birth Control in America,'' (New York: Penguin, 1974) p. 399.
[9]George Grant, ``Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned
Parenthood,''(Brentwood,TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1988) p. 98.
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(2) This is what THEY say about themselves:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
810 Seventh Avenue
P.O. Box 4447 Phone: (212) 541-7800
New York, NY 10164-0359
This group calls for:
* Keeping the right to a safe and legal abortion
* Enacting mandated sexuality education programs at the state level to
educate teenagers about the risks of unintended pregnancy and the
spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS
* Beginning a major offensive to increase funding for new
contraceptive research ("Something that is both needed and that will
force ["pro-lifers"] to reveal their true position on contraception")
Their recent mailing included the following quotes from "pro-lifers":
"I don't think Christians should use birth control. You consummate
your marriage as often as you like and if you have babies, you have
babies." --Randall Terry, one of the men behind the current campaign
to blockade health clinics and publicly harass and humiliate women.
"I think contraception is disgusting -- people using each other for
pleasure." --Joseph Scheidler, Director, Pro-Life Action League
"We are...opposed to all forms of birth control with the exception of
natural family planning [the rhythm method]" -Judie Brown, President,
American Life Lobby
"It's very healthy for a young girl to be deterred from promiscuity by
fear of contracting a painful, incurable disease, or cervical cancer,
or sterility, or the likelihood of giving birth to a dead, blind, or
brain-damage baby even ten years later when she may be happily
married." Phyllis Schafly, President, Eagle Forum
"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are
failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they
married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the
bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they
need. Most of these feminists need a man to tell them what time of
day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all
men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men -- that's their
problem." -- Rev. Jerry Falwell
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(3) Remember Title X funding?
The following is an excerpt from an urgent appeal issued by NOW,
followed by the addresses of both NOW and Planned Parenthood:
******
The National Organization for Women has launched an EMERGENCY
MOBILIZATION TO SAVE ABORTION RIGHTS that "targets two critical
pieces of Federal legislation -- The Title X Pregnancy Counseling
Act that requires clinics to give women COMPLETE and ACCURATE
information about abortion ... and The Freedom of Choice Act that
provides women in every state with the ROE v. WADE guarantee
regardless of what courts or state legislatures do.
Our EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION TO SAVE ABORTION RIGHTS has four key
steps:
FIRST, we're calling on all NOW activists to organize
demonstrations, pickets and other DIRECT ACTIONS at
Congressional offices around the country demanding
passage of these crucial Federal bills.
SECOND, we're gearing up our activists and
supporters for a massive, grassroots IN-DISTRICT
LOBBYING AND ACTION CAMPAIGN on Senators and members of
Congress when they are home during the July break.
THIRD, we're reactivating our PHONE BANKS in cities
and communities all across the country to enlist help
in this all-out effort from the hundreds of thousands
of activists who marched and rallied for abortion
rights in Washington D.C in 1989.
FOURTH, We're flooding the office of House Speaker Tom
Foley with POST CARDS (available from NOW) FROM VOTERS
demanding that The Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act be
scheduled for a vote immediately -- before the July
break!
Needless to say, the most appropriate response is to demand that
the bill NOT be rushed. Please write! (Can someone provide me
with Foley's address?)
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(4)
What is the World comming to?
In a two day period in New York City recently, a homeless man, a train
maintenance worker, and a dog were killed on the subway tracks.
Ninety people telephoned the Transit Authority to express concern
about the dog, but only three called about the worker, and none about
the homeless man. [Star Tribune, 5/23/91:4E]
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(5)
The American Medical Association (AMA) Speaks:
In June of 1990, the AMA called for testing of RU-486, the so-called
abortion pill. The Doctors who led the drive said that "Support from
the AMA's 280,000 members is a major step to counter political
pressure from anti-abortion groups." In fact, the actual membership
never voted on the measure. In a recent issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) [5/15/91:2484] a letter
paradoxically entitled "The Oath of the Healer" was published. The
letter was penned by Louis Weinstein, MD, of the Univeristy of
Arizona. He presented his 21st century version of the Hippocratic
Oath in a U of A chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha (a medical honorary
society) which reads in part:
``I shall always have the highest respect for human life, and remember
it is wrong to terminate life in certain circumstances, permissible in
some, and an act of supreme love in others.''
This section of the traditional Hippocratic Oath, which has protected
society for over 2400 years reads:
``I will neither give a deadly drug to anyone if asked for it, nor
will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give
to a woman an abortion remedy. But I will preserve the purity of my
life and my art...''
The AMA has lost sight of this principled heritage.
``It required less than 5% of practicing physicians in America to
destroy over 26,000,000 normal pregnancies. If 5% of America's
physicians embrace the Euthanasia ethic, the consequences are
boundless, and Hitler's holocaust numerically may come to be seen as
child's play.''
Dr. Joseph Stanton, advisor to the IAETF
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(6)
A letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Press:
Mike VanAuker, one of our readers recently submitted the following
to the Pittsburgh Press:
I am writing in response to the June 19, 1991 _Pittsburgh Press_
letter to the editor by D J Plazek. In this letter Mr. Plazek made
the statement, ``That means science must prove that post-conception
cells are life in order for the law to forbid abortion.'' As a
student of science, I would like respond to this statement.
He continues his argument with: ``Science cannot prove that a
pre-fetal form is a life form.'' This is contrary to what science
teaches. In human reproduction biological life does not begin, it is
continuous. There is _no_ period where life stops, and later
starts up again. Cells come only from living cells. One leading
abortion rights activist, Dr. Garrett Hardin of UCSB states it this
way: ``It [life] is just passed on from one cell to another. All
biologists are in agreement on that answer.''[1] The issue is not
whether these cells are a life form, but rather if they are human.
They are undeniably living.
Mr. Plazek questions whether these cells are human, because they do
not exhibit human characteristics. He states: ``It [the fetus]
doesn't even have a brain or nerve cells to feel pain.'' Besides the
fact that brain waves have been detected in the unborn as early as 40
days into the pregnancy, the real crux of the argument is what is
meant by the term _human_. The adjective _human_ is used to describe
that which is characteristic of man as a species distinguished from
other animals. Such characteristics can be divided into two classes,
those which are _extrinsic_ (of human origin) or _intrinsic_ (depends
on genetic constitution). The criterion proper for the discussion of
abortion is the intrinsic criterion.
Biology teaches that two gametes unite at conception to create an
individual cell that contains a complete set of 46 chromasomes. These
chromasomes distinguish the individual from both its parents and from
all other species. It is clear from the genetics that from the moment
of conception, the fertilized ovum (egg) is undeniably alive, and
undeniably human.
So when does this human cell (fertilized ovum) become a human being?
Biology teaches that life is continuous, and that your life began when
the nucleus of your father's sperm fused with the nucleus of your
mothers ovum. A text book on cytology by Leo Schneider put it this
way: ``_You_ are composed of trillions of cells now, but at one time
in _your_ life _you_ were just a single cell.''(The emphasis is
Schneider's.)[2]
The reason that the extrinsic argument (which Mr. Plazek uses) is
insufficient to define life is that it is very subjective and
therefore unscientific. The best one can do to arrive at an objective
definition of personhood is to have a definition which should be in
accord with the usual meaning of the word. To apply to our
pluralistic society, the definition must be independent of philosophy
or creed, as Mr. Plazek indicates. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
defines the word ``person'' simply as an individual human being[3].
Biology irrefutably teaches that an individual human person is created
at conception. Those who wish to exclude some human beings from
personhood on objective grounds will therefore have to accept the
burden of proof.
In trying to understand why the scientific notion of when human life
begins seems very clouded, pro-abortion literature should be studied.
A pro-abortion journal (_California Medicine 113_) summed up the
pro-abortion stance quite clearly:
"The result [separating abortion from the idea of killing] has been a
curious avoidance of scientific fact, which everyone really knows,
that human life begins at conception. The very considerable semantic
gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but
taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put
forth under socially impeccable auspices. It is suggested that this
schizophrenic sort of subterfuge is necessary because, while a new
ethic is being accepted, the old one has not yet been rejected."[4]
The point is that the abortion supporters admit to twisting the
scientific facts to make abortion acceptable to society. Mr. Plazek
states that ``abortion can't rationally be illegal.'' From a
scientific standpoint, abortion can't rationally be _legal_.
Michael VanAuker
UPitt Engineering `92
Footnotes:
[1] G. Hardin,L. Schneider, _You and your cells_, Harcourt, Brace, and
World, inc. 1964.
[2] ``Abortion Vs. the Right to Life: The evil of Mandatory
Motherhood,'' _Psychology Today_ Vol. 8 No. 6 p. 42.
[4] Editorial, _California Medicine 113_ Vol. 67, Sept. 1970.
[3] _Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English
Language Unabridged_, G. & C. Merriam, 1965.
(I'm taking votes as to who thinks it will be printed)
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Quote of the month:
``If the physician presumes to take into consideration in his work
whether a life has value or not, the consequences are boundless and
the physician becomes the most dangerous man in the state.''
Dr. Christoph Hufeland (1762-1836)
Sumbissions for "Quote of the month" are dearly sought.
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| Credits: |
| |
| The information in article (1) came from the pamphlet, ``Planned |
| Un-Parenthood'' distributed by _Next Generation_, "an active |
| coalitionof college students seeking to cultivate and preserve |
| morality oncampuses nationwide" $5/year |
| 7845-E Airpark Road Gaithersburg, MD 20879 |
| |
| The Quote of the Month, and articles (4) and (5) are taken from the |
| International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force Update [IEATF Update, |
| May-June 1991] $25/year |
| The Human Life Center, Univ. of Steubenville, Steubenville, OH 43952|
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